How European cities are trying to stem the rising tourist tide

London | It’s becoming a European August tradition: every year, as millions of visitors pile into the Continent’s compact tourist capitals during the height of summer, a chorus of despair erupts.

Venice, Amsterdam, Dubrovnik, Barcelona: these and many other picturesque bucket-list destinations just can’t cope with the sheer volume of the influx.

So every year, city authorities try to tighten the ratchet a little further. In past years, Italy’s Cinque Terre coast has tried to regulate crowd sizes that are eroding its cliff-side walks by using an app; Barcelona has cracked down on Airbnb lets; and Venice has levied pretty stiff fines on tourists who picnic or booze in inappropriate places.

Venice is starting to get serious about deterring huge cruise ships from its fragile lagoon. Shutterstock

This year, the screws are tightening again. Venice – which apparently hosts an unbelievable 30 million tourists per annum – is starting to get serious about its cruise-ship problem, banning mega vessels from the city centre.

The floating apartment blocks create waves on the main canal that are said to erode the city’s foundations, and also pump large crowds into the city – 1.5 million sightseers a year, who allegedly stay only a few hours and thus don’t spend tourist moolah at the city’s hotels, restaurants or shops.

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Over the Adriatic in Croatia, Dubrovnik – another tiny town with a big tourist influx (1.2 million last year, in a centre that’s barely a few blocks wide) – is now talking to the cruise industry about how they can keep things on a sustainable footing, following a “memorandum of understanding” (MoU) signed last week.

Move along: Tourists will be fined hundreds of euros for sitting on Rome's Spanish Steps. Shutterstock

Meanwhile, Rome (9.7 million visitors in 2018) is following Venice’s lead in another way, using fines to keep a bit of public decorum. The city authorities have just started slapping a €250 ($413) fine on tourists who sit on its iconic 17th century marble Spanish Steps, or even €400 for making a mess.

Police officers in high-vis yellow vests are now telling people to get up and move along – kind of killing the Roman Holiday atmosphere.

Amsterdam will ban tours of its red light district. AP

Further north, Amsterdam is trying to cope with its annual 19 million visitors – which make the city almost unliveable in high summer for its 850,000 residents – by banning tours of the red light district, curbing new souvenir shops, restricting Airbnb lets, and doubling the hotel tax.

Even more creatively, the Dutch government is urging people to visit other parts of the Netherlands instead. Run, don’t walk, to the top alternative attractions on the list, which include Efteling (a fairytale theme park for kids), the Gouda cheese market, and the miniature model village of Madurodam in The Hague.

The trouble is, though, that tourism is just so damn lucrative. One estimate puts the revenue from tourism across Europe at €782 billion, directly employing 14.4 million people – the population of a mid-sized European country.

The future, experts say, is in making tourism sustainable rather than switching off the tap. But wrapping a protective layer around cities, and regulating (rather than expelling) crowds, probably means spending more money.

So while there will be more Airbnb restrictions, more MoUs with the cruise industry and more high-vis anti-picnic police, the trend that will really make a difference is likely to be tourist taxes.

As if the crowds in Europe in summer weren’t bad enough – it’s now going to get more expensive, too.

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Hans van Leeuwen covers British and European politics, economics and business from London. He has worked as a reporter, editor and policy adviser in Sydney, Canberra, Hanoi and London. Connect with Hans on Twitter. Email Hans at hans.vanleeuwen@afr.com